The Washington Post unveiled a new theme in the frenetic reaction to DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s declassification of dirty operations led by former CIA head John Brennan, in the deliberate manufacture of a “Russiagate” hoax. The Post article, “Gabbard Overrode CIA Officials’ Concerns in Push To Release Classified Russia Report,” actually has unnamed CIA officials in contact with the paper describe efforts by the CIA and others to prevent Gabbard from opening up the files on them, but she exerted her authority and power, and prevailed. The Post doesn’t mention that its collaboration with unnamed CIA agents in 2016/17 was instrumental in the original Russiagate hoax.
The Post cited “multiple people familiar with the matter” to report that the CIA and other intel agencies fought to keep the Russiagate documents classified. All spoke “on the condition of anonymity ... because of the matter’s sensitivity.” A declassified version of the 2020 House Intelligence Committee report on the Dec. 9, 2016 decision to manufacture the Russiagate hoax was released on July 23. Even though a House Intelligence Committee investigation and report, the CIA had sequestered access to it. It took a several-months-long tug-of-war for the DNI to get full access. The Washington Post argued that the fact that the CIA had sequestered the report, means that it was highly secretive; hence, Gabbard was playing loose with the agency’s closely guarded secrets.
